Students from Jamestown High School share their original poetry, inspired by the theme “Poetry Is…” The poem were written and recorded after students from Elizabeth Rowe-Baehr’s 9th grade English classes worked with Sony Ton-Aime, who serves as the Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts at Chautauqua Institution.

Several students stopped by the WRFA studios and were recorded as they recited their original works. The recording were featured Friday, May 19, 2023 on WRFA’s Small Things Considered morning show.

Thank you to Sony for developing this project and also to Betsy her students for sharing their work with the Jamestown community via WRFA.

The JHS A Cappella Choir rehearses for its upcoming Spring Choral Concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, May 12, in the Merton P. Corwin Auditorium at the high school.

Jamestown High School will host its annual Spring Choral Concert tonight.

The performance will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.

It will feature the JHS A Cappella Choir, Madrigal Singers, the Men of Tomorrow and Ladies of Today, and the Mixed Chorus under the direction of Lauren Scharf, director of choral activities, and accompanied by Julie Livengood.

The ensembles will perform “Gaudeamus Hodie,” by Earlene Rentz, “There Will Be Rest,” composed by Frank Ticheli with text by poet Sara Teasdale, “Keep the Beat” from Vivo! with music and lyrics by Lin Manuel Miranda, and more. The concert will feature soloists Olivia Kubera, Madeline DeJoy, Nichole Iacuzzo, Evan Corey, Emma Higbee, Aaron Guiffre, Allison MacCallum, Charlee VanGuilder, Zoe Haskins, and Conner Garcia.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Students in the Jamestown High School Concert Band rehearse in the Merton P. Corwin Auditorium for the annual Spring Band Concert scheduled for Friday, May 5 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

Jamestown High School’s Spring Band Concert will take place on tonight.

The performance at 7:00 p.m. in the JHS Auditorium will feature both the Concert and Symphonic bands under the direction of JHS Director of Bands Meghan Murray.

The bands will present works by Balmages, Mackey, Maslanka, Standridge, and more and also include music from “How To Train Your Dragon,” “Jekyll and Hyde,” and “Horn Concerto No. 1” by Strauss, performed by 2023 Concerto winner Madeline DeJoy.

The bands will combine for a special performance and a goodwill offering will be taken to benefit the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Coach Propheter, who is a part of the boys football staff at Jamestown in the fall, has taken the reigns of the girls flag team. He discusses their week one victory, getting acclimated to the rule book, and the impact he wants to leave.

The Jamestown High School Orchestra will present its Spring Concert on Friday, April 28 at 7 p.m. in the Merton P. Corwin Auditorium at the high school, at 350 E. Second Street. From left to right is Madison Terry, Madeline DeJoy, Brighton Lumia, Nichole Iacuzzo, and Elsa Lumia.

The Jamestown High School Orchestras will present their Spring Concert tonight.

The performance will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.

It will feature the JHS symphonic, chamber, and concert full orchestras under the direction of Katie Derrenbacher.

Highlights of the concert include Ashokan Farewell, the Finale movement of Britten’s Simple Symphony, Slavonic Dance No. 3, and Thunder & Lightning Polka, among others.

The concert is free and open to the public.

WRFA’s Collin Wood chats with Ben Drake, who is stepping down from the head basketball coach position at Jamestown High School. Drake, who in 25 years racked up numerous achievements, reflects on his time coaching.

JHS Battle of the Classes

The 42nd annual Jamestown High School Battle of the Classes takes place tonight.

The event is at 6:30 p.m. in the McElrath Gymnasium. Proceeds from the annual competition will benefit the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County.

The school-wide competition will include games, skills contests, and dance-off.

Over the last four decades, the school has raised over $300,000 for community organizations and charities.

Proceeds will help benefit MHA’s “Code Blue Warming Center” established earlier this year.

MHA executive director Steven Cobb said the donation from JHS students will help to make physical updates to the association’s Gateway Center space to provide shower, laundry, and technology services to those in need across the community.

Those interested in donating can contact Tony Dolce at anthony.j.dolce@jpsny.org. Tickets for the event $2 at the door.

Jamestown School Board Ex-Officio Student Members Aubrey Reynolds and Emylia Hallberg (March 28, 2023)

Jamestown High School students on the Jamestown School Board expressed concern over safety in schools in the wake of recent stabbings in the city.

Ex-Officio student member Emylia Hallberg said while there is more police support in the school, the students want to see a Safety Committee created to get public input.

The other Ex-Officio student member, Aubrey Reynolds, agreed, “I think a lot of the faculty is concerned for the safety of the students and safety of themselves in general. I mean, they were promised a safety committee earlier this year. Not much action has taken place, so they’d like to see that go forward and so would we. We really care about our school. The recent issues with the fights, all the stabbings, is kind of causing an uneasy feeling in the school.”

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said there had seemed to be interest from the community to join a Safety Committee, “But we didn’t get a lot of interest. I reached out to a few people and made some phone calls to say, ‘I heard that you might be interested. Would you like to join?’ People said, ‘Well, sure yeah, ok. Just let me know if that’s a thing.’ But we had very, very few people from outside the district say they would be interested so that was a little disappointing.”

Whitaker said the committee would look at items like ballistics coating on windows, weapons and metal detection; tactical issues, and infrastructure issues. He said while he wanted the community to have a voice, if that doesn’t work out there will be a district-building safety committee at the least.

Following the 13th school shooting in the nation this year, Board President Paul Abbott said more communication is needed of everyone’s concerns. He said he feels the District has safety as a top priority, “I think it’s important that people know and understand what we’re doing. I absolutely agree that it’s really important that everyone has a voice and an opportunity to express their concerns. I guess as far as the Safety Committee geos, that is certainly a great avenue for that.”

Abbott added that if volunteers weren’t interested, he’d still want to see a committee that included people from every school building, bargaining unit, and student representatives.

Board Member Pat Slagle said he thinks it’ll take the community, including a Safety Committee, coming together to figure out the puzzle pieces to eliminate safety issues in the district. He said a lot of investment has been made to secure the schools including the recent over $400,000 investment in a secure vestibule entrance at Persell Middle School, “We have the Red Shirt program. We have the Red Shirts here tonight. SRO’s (School Resource Officers), that’s about $100,000 per SRO. We’ve increased social workers in school. We’ve increased mental health access. We’ve partnerships with the County to provide that. We have new programs to hopefully help reduce incidences of bullies in schools. We continue to reach out to community partners on how we can continue to affect these students who are no longer students, but causing issues in and around the schools.”

Slagle added that the board and district will continue to take all steps needed to keep students and staff safe.

Members of the community who are interested in joining the School District’s Safety Committee may contact that Administrative Offices at 716-483-4350.

Twenty-five Jamestown High School students were eligible for All-
Western New York Scholar Athlete recognition for the fall athletic season after having a grade-point average of 90% or higher.

Twenty-five Jamestown High School students were named All-Western New York Scholar Athletes winners and honorable mentions for the fall athletic season by Section VI.

Eligible students are seniors involved in a fall sport who had a cumulative grade-point average of 90% or higher.

Jamestown Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said it’s great to have so many students achieve this, “It is challenging, A, to be a teenager in these times; B, to have navigated through the COVID fiasco that we’ve been through the course of the past two years and make a return to school; C, to do all of the outside things that a lot of kids have to do today like jobs and taking care of younger kids; D, to get good grades in school and then also on top of all of that be an outstanding athlete on a varsity team.”

Board President Paul Abbott also recognized the students named as scholar athletes, including the two ex-officio student representatives on the board, Emylia Hallberg and Aubrey Reynolds.

JHS students recognized for their excellence in the classroom were Aric Bloomquist, football; Trey Drake, football; Kylie O’Brien, volleyball; Jacob Smeraldo, boys cross country; and Lindsey Spitz, girls swim team.

Students who received honorable mention recognition included: Brittney Beardsley, girls tennis; Michael Boron, football; Jordan Braymiller, boys soccer; Rylen Coombs, girls volleyball; Emylia Hallberg, girls volleyball; Mercedes Johnson, girls tennis; Quinn Johnson, girls soccer; Kollon Knisley, boys soccer; Brandon Lobb, football; Hannah Lutgen, girls cross country; Colin Melendez, football; Alex Melquist, girls volleyball; Karynne Mims, girls soccer; Aubrey Reynolds, girls volleyball; Celeste Roberts, girls tennis; Kylee Schrader, girls tennis; Evan Sharpe, boys soccer; Julia Smith, girls soccer; John Torres, football; and Kylee Williamson, girls volleyball.

Additionally, seven JHS athletic programs — football, boys and girls Soccer, boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball, and girls tennis — were named New York State Scholar-Athlete teams. Programs are eligible if the cumulative team GPA is 90% or higher during the season.

Coach Ken Ricker discusses his 10-5 (5-3) Red Raiders girls team. Including: their adversity faced with numbers, potential playoff picture, and how proud he is of his team day in and day out.